All the otherwise fast people would either drown from laughing at me in the water, or would be too busy gossiping about the whatever a newbie triathelete is called flailing around on the swim, and then I'd smoke 'em on the bike, with enough cushion for the run.

In one exchange, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) pressed BP on why it seemed to be "flailing" to deal with a spill only 2 percent as large as what it had said it could handle in its license application.

Grand Central publisher and executive vice president Jamie Raab said she liked to call him "The Professor" because Pockell knew so much about so many subjects and would become visibly animated in discussion, his hands "flailing" everywhere.